woman: here is north america, so it's english first. so, uh, quebec is an island of french between a sea... you know, in a sea of... english. narrator: this sea of english is a source of concern for the quécois. althoe largest population french spearesides in quebec.out canada yet all of them are surrounded, not only by english canada, t t lge anmost influenti english-spki count i thegio the. pierre-etienne la porte is the director of a government-run research organization called the french language council. translator: one has to keep in mind that quebec is in a very special situation as a result of its proximity to the american giant. from a geo-linguistic perspective, english has an influential presence here, because we are deeply integrated into american civilition, which is the civilization that surroundss. narrator: nearly half of quebec's seven million people live in the city of montreal, and it is here that the battle between french and english is most heated. the québécois recognize that protecting language is the most effec